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The Best Resume Format for 2026 (Recruiter Explains) — Transcript

by A Life After Layoff · 2,641 words · 408 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you're trying to figure out what
0:00resume format to use, you've probably
0:02come across dozens of templates and
0:04everybody seems to have a different
0:06opinion about what one works best. Some
0:08people recommend functional resumes and
0:09others tell you to use fancy templates
0:11with multiple columns, graphics, even
0:14pictures. And then there's all this
0:16confusion about what actually works with
0:18applicant tracking systems. Now, I'm a
0:20corporate recruiter with over 20 years
0:21of experience interviewing and hiring
0:23thousands of people into some of the
0:24world's largest and most well-known
0:25companies. I've probably looked at a
0:27couple hundred thousand resumes at this
0:29point in my career. As a result of all
0:30of that, I took my knowledge of what I
0:32wanted to see on resumes and what hiring
0:34teams wanted to see and I developed a
0:35course called resume rocket fuel, which
0:38is a comprehensive system where I teach
0:40how to build resumes strategically based
0:43on how recruiting actually works. And my
0:46recommendation is pretty
0:47straightforward. The more boring the
0:49template is, probably the better it is.
0:51Now, I'm going to show you two examples
0:53and explain why I would choose one over
0:54the other and then clear up an important
0:56misconception about applicant tracking
0:58systems because there's a lot of
1:00misconceptions about them. First, let me
1:01show you what recruiters are actually
1:02looking for when we open up a resume.
1:04When I'm screening a large number of
1:06applicants, which is pretty common for
1:07most of the jobs that I recruit,
1:09I'm not reading through every resume
1:10from beginning to end on the first pass
1:12and I know that this is probably going
1:13to be a shocker to a lot of people, but
1:15recruiters don't read through every
1:17single resume in its entirety, but
1:19rather there is a scanning that they do.
1:21We're looking for specific
1:22qualifications that matter for the
1:23particular role that we're recruiting
1:25for and if you don't have what we're
1:27looking for immediately, then there's
1:28really not a lot of point for us to read
1:30deeper into a resume. So, we can usually
1:33assess do you meet the very broadest
1:35baseline requirements of the role within
1:38a few seconds. And if you do meet the
1:40baseline requirements, then we spend
1:42more time on your actual resume. So,
1:44we're not just spending 5 seconds on
1:46every single resume, but rather the ones
1:48that actually earn additional time spent
1:51really drilling down into it. Now, of
1:52course, a lot of applicant tracking
1:53systems use AI and other keyword
1:55flagging tools to help us
1:57filter people into certain buckets. But
1:59for the most part, so long as you meet
2:01the core requirements of the position,
2:03the recruiter is actually putting eyes
2:04on your resume. Yes, even in today's job
2:07market.
2:08So, your job is to make sure that that
2:10first screen is as easy as possible.
2:13I need to be able to find your job
2:14titles, employers, dates, relevant
2:17experience without having to hunt all
2:19around the page. And that's why the way
2:21you organize your resume matters more
2:23than you might think. This goes for both
2:25the layout and also length of resume and
2:28how much stuff you put into it. So, like
2:29that's called the density of your
2:30resume. Some people have four, five, and
2:33six-page resumes with the thought that
2:35well, if I just add all of this stuff in
2:37there, the recruiter is going to find
2:39what it is they're looking for. And if I
2:40happen to leave something out, then what
2:42if that's that one thing that's
2:43crucially important that they need? And
2:46so, I better make sure that I stick it
2:47all in because you never know who's
2:48going to look for a certain thing.
2:51It's actually counterintuitive because
2:52that makes it harder for us to find what
2:54it is they're looking for. So, we want
2:56to make sure that we're being concise.
2:58Now, you're usually going to hear three
3:00different formats.
3:01First is going to be reverse
3:03chronological. In other words, you start
3:05with your most recent role and that goes
3:07first.
3:08Then you work your way backward through
3:09your career. Now, that's what I
3:10recommend in almost every case because I
3:12can immediately understand where your
3:14experience came from and how you've
3:16progressed through your career. Then
3:17there's functional resumes and they put
3:19skills into categories and then they
3:22kind of push the employment history into
3:23the background and it makes us kind of
3:26have together. Now, I don't recommend
3:28that you do these.
3:29I need to know where and when you got
3:31the skills cuz that's usually really
3:33important to the hiring teams. A
3:34functional resume can actually make it
3:36harder to figure that out and it can
3:38raise questions about potentially what
3:40you're trying to hide because when we
3:42see it in a kind of a strange way, we go
3:45what the heck's going on here? And then
3:46we have to put on our investigative caps
3:48to try to figure things out.
3:50There's also a third, which is a
3:52combination or like a maybe a hybrid
3:54resume, and they emphasize key
3:56qualifications up front, but then they
3:57also include work history. Now, some
3:59variations of these can work, and I've
4:01seen them pretty commonly, and in
4:02particular, if you have a very
4:04complicated background, you're trying to
4:05surface something that maybe isn't quite
4:07obvious. Maybe you're trying to
4:10move from one industry to another, and
4:11you're trying to convey fit across those
4:13industry lines.
4:15But, I would still keep the actual
4:17experience in clear reverse
4:18chronological order just to make it easy
4:20for the recruiter to understand how your
4:22career has progressed nonetheless.
4:24Frankly, you usually don't need to
4:25invent an entire resume format in order
4:27to convey your fit. Now, one other
4:29thing,
4:30you don't have to buy a resume template.
4:33I do sell resume templates, but you
4:35don't have to buy them. In fact, you can
4:37just use Microsoft Word, choose a plain
4:39traditional template, kind of
4:42really kind of boring, or you can just
4:43start with a blank document, start
4:45writing.
4:46There are a lot of resume template sites
4:48out there that sell designs that look
4:50attractive to the buyer.
4:53They're all designed very ornately, and
4:55they've got all the bells and the
4:57whistles. They've got little graphics
4:59everywhere, and they're broken into kind
5:00of creatively designed charts and
5:03layouts. But, despite them looking nice,
5:05doesn't necessarily mean that they're
5:06better for recruiters, and more
5:07importantly, for hiring systems who may
5:09have more difficulty parsing things into
5:11the right format. Now, let's look at an
5:12example of a resume that I might
5:13generally avoid. On first glance, it may
5:15look nice. It has a picture, it has
5:18colorful banner, it has icons, it has a
5:20sidebar. But, from my perspective, this
5:22design is getting in the way of what I
5:24actually need to know. First, it's
5:26spread across multiple columns. The
5:28contact details and the skills are off
5:29to the side, while the experience is in
5:31another section, and it makes reading in
5:34order a little less straightforward, and
5:36you kind of have to jump around a little
5:37bit. And depending on how the file's
5:38built, it can actually create problems
5:40for the applicant tracking system
5:42software as it tries to extract
5:44different things. It may not be able to
5:45find everything cleanly, and some
5:47systems are better at it than others,
5:49but I have seen these kind of resumes
5:50post problems for certain applicant
5:52tracking systems in my career. Second,
5:54it has a photograph. And for most
5:56conventional US roles, I'm talking North
5:59American based, I would actually leave
6:00this off. It opens you up to
6:02discrimination. It's really no advantage
6:04unless you're extremely attractive. It's
6:07probably not going to help you.
6:09Really, what it does is it takes away
6:10from the information that could actually
6:12establish your qualifications based on
6:13what you actually have accomplished and
6:16not what you look like. And third,
6:18there's a lot of decorative material
6:19here. The icons, the banner, the
6:22graphics, the colors, the extra layer of
6:24treatment that doesn't tell me anything
6:27useful about what this person can do for
6:29the job, but rather it takes my eye away
6:32from it and kind of keeps me focused
6:33more on how pretty everything looks. I'd
6:36also avoid building any essential
6:37information inside of complex tables,
6:39charts, even photographs, multiple rows
6:43or columns. I've seen some people build
6:45out their skill section in a chart and
6:47applicant tracking systems just can't
6:48parse that as cleanly and it would be a
6:50real shame for you to have that
6:52particular keyword that the applicant
6:54tracking system needs to see and it just
6:56can't see it even though it's on your
6:58resume. So, as far as I'm concerned, why
6:59take the risk in using a fancy template
7:02if there's a possibility that you could
7:05have some information on there not
7:06showing up cleanly that the applicant
7:08tracking system or the AI filtering
7:10needs to see, like those keywords.
7:12Also, you don't need page numbers, you
7:14don't need fancy headers or footers, any
7:17of that stuff. We're generally not going
7:19to be printing your resume off, so I
7:20don't need to know that this is page
7:21one, this is page two, this is page
7:23three. And I have seen some people put
7:25little disclaimers, like little legal
7:26ease at the bottom of their pages that
7:28this can't be reproduced or anything
7:30like that.
7:31That's just weird. Don't do that. Now,
7:33let's take a look at this version.
7:35This is generally the resume structure
7:36that we've developed in SOAR and we use
7:39It's kind of boring, but it works.
7:41There's a name at the top, there's the
7:43contact information in a simple vertical
7:45block, and then next is a profile, then
7:48experience, then education,
7:50certifications, and then skills. You'll
7:52notice that it's all one column. You can
7:54see the job title, the company, the
7:56location, the dates in a predictable
7:58place. This is exactly where recruiters'
8:00eyes want to go.
8:02The experience then goes from newest to
8:04oldest. You're not hiding anything. We
8:07can make a clear sense of the
8:08progression of your career. And all
8:10section headings tell us exactly what
8:12we're looking at, so that there's no
8:14real guessing and trying to find Where's
8:16Waldo on your resume. Now, you notice
8:18that this example shows the structure
8:20more so than teaching you how to write
8:21every single bullet point. That's a
8:23separate part of writing a great resume.
8:25I teach that in Resume Rocket Fuel.
8:26There's also another video that I've
8:27created that will walk you through how
8:29to build a resume, so you can check that
8:31out as well. You have to write your
8:32resume with the end person in mind.
8:34Who's going to be consuming it? In this
8:36case, it's going to be the hiring team.
8:37It's going to be the recruiter. Now,
8:38let's talk applicant tracking systems. A
8:40lot of resume advice tells you that
8:42there's some sort of magical template
8:43that will get you through the applicant
8:45tracking system and then guarantees you
8:47an interview.
8:48That's not how it works. See, an
8:50applicant tracking system, or an ATS, is
8:52a system that employers use to manage a
8:54high volume of applications. Basically,
8:56it manages the entire flow of of
8:59candidates through a company's process.
9:01And many of these systems extract
9:03information from your resume and
9:04populate different sections of the back
9:06end of the the system. Now, standard
9:08headings, a logical reading order, and
9:10straightforward text can reduce the
9:12chance of information being parsed
9:14incorrectly, or maybe not being parsed
9:16at all. But, a simple template doesn't
9:18automatically mean that you're going to
9:19be qualified, or that your resume gets
9:21selected. You still have to have the
9:22right stuff on there.
9:23And a more creative resume doesn't
9:25automatically mean that the software is
9:26going to reject you on the flip side. It
9:28just depends on the system, the
9:30document, the employer's screening
9:32process.
9:34Some recruiters will actually look at
9:35those creative resumes and say, "Hey, I
9:37like this." So, it's like not everything
9:39is black and white. There are shades of
9:41gray. There's always going to be edge
9:42cases and exceptions, but I'm just
9:43talking about when you look at scale
9:45across multiple industries with most of
9:47the recruiting teams that I've talked
9:48to. But again, I don't see a reason to
9:49create unnecessary complexity when
9:52there's cleaner options that work just
9:54as well if not better.
9:55And I honestly have the data to prove it
9:57that the [snorts] system that I've
9:58developed really does work really well.
10:00Now, there are going to be some
10:01exceptions here. If you're graphic
10:02designer or somebody that works in a
10:04creative discipline, maybe you're an art
10:05director or some other way that you want
10:07to demonstrate your presentation skills.
10:11In that case, it's probably going to be
10:12expected that you get a little bit more
10:14creative, maybe a little bit more
10:16esoteric with the way that you present
10:17your resume.
10:19But you're not going to be using a
10:20template. You're going to actually be
10:21creating one from scratch because that's
10:23part of your competency that you're
10:24trying to convey to them. And honestly,
10:26a lot of employers just prefer that you
10:27send a conventional resume along with a
10:29portfolio. And in the portfolio itself,
10:32you can get really creative. And then
10:33the resume is just designed to to make
10:36it very easy for them to understand your
10:37background. But for overwhelming
10:39majority of traditional roles, and I'm
10:41talking 99% of jobs, there's going to be
10:43a couple more edge cases maybe in the
10:45higher education where it's going to be
10:47a little longer.
10:49But for most of us, just keep it clean.
10:51Now, the ultimate job of your resume is
10:52to get the phone to ring. And if you're
10:53applying to jobs that you're reasonably
10:55qualified for and you're consistently
10:57not getting interviews that you would
10:58expect that you would,
11:00your resume is one of the first things
11:02that I would be examining. Now, of
11:03course, your targeting and customizing
11:05is going to be the biggest impact, and
11:08the market itself matters, too. If
11:09there's a ton of candidates and you're
11:11one of many and your timing's off, then
11:13you're going to struggle probably
11:14regardless, but
11:16your resume needs to clearly communicate
11:19the fit very quickly and clearly. The
11:22format is just starting point. It's a
11:24good starting point, but it's just a
11:25starting point. If you want to
11:26understand how to build the resume
11:28strategically to solve specific
11:31positioning problems, maybe some of
11:33those hiccups that you're dealing with
11:35on your resume, those things that you
11:37kind of think are an elephant in the
11:38room. And you want to understand what
11:41recruiters are looking for and how they
11:43use your resume to get you into the
11:45hiring process. That's what I cover in
11:47detail inside of the Resume Rocketfuel
11:49Course. It does include a template, but
11:52the real value is learning the method
11:53behind the resume and how to build a
11:55resume the right way. I actually walk
11:57through how I build my own resume
11:59side-by-side with you so you can follow
12:01along. And we've also created Sword to
12:02help you build out professional quality
12:04resume section by section and going
12:06through the customization process. So
12:08basically, it's the practical side of
12:10the Resume Rocketfuel strategy.
12:12Both of those things work together. Now,
12:14I'll put both of those resources below
12:15if you want to check them out. And if
12:16you want to go deeper into what
12:17recruiters are actually looking for once
12:19they open your resume, watch my full
12:20resume writing video here. Anyway, hope
12:22you found this video to be helpful.
12:23Appreciate you watching. We'll see you
12:25on the next one.

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